Synthetic benchmarks

The Acer Liquid X2 is powered by the Mediatek MT6753 chipset - one of those non-Helio models by the Taiwanese chipmaker. Its forte in radio connectivity aside, the SoC comes with a rather standard-issue octa-core Cortex-A53 CPU with the cores clocked at up to 1.3GHz in the X2 (Mediatek quotes a 1.5GHz maximum). There's a Mali-T720 GPU on board with four shader cores and RAM is a liberal 3GB.

Business as usual, we kick off with GeekBench, which is a reliable gauge of raw CPU performance. Here the Liquid X2 posts numbers in the middle of the pack, with the MT6753 clearly behind the Helio X10 - the 8 Cortex-A53 cores may be the same, but the 1.3GHz vs. 2.0GHz clock rate difference inevitably shows, and the Redmi Note 3 (Mediatek) obliterates the X2 in multi-core. Even the Snapdragon 650-equipped Redmi Note 3 has a clear edge.

The X2 does inch ahead of the highest-specced Zenfone 2 and also bests the Lenovo Vibe K4 Note (with the same MT6753 inside). The Zenfone Selfie and Motorola Moto X Play with their Snapdragon 615's rank even lower.

GeekBench 3 (multi-core)

Higher is better

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)4537

OnePlus 24429

Samsung Galaxy J73619

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)3570

Huawei Honor 5X3053

Meizu m3 note3028

Oppo F13014

Acer Liquid X22972

Asus Zenfone 2 ZE551ML (Z3580)2887

Lenovo Vibe K4 Note2745

Motorola Moto X Play2608

Asus Zenfone Selfie ZD551KL2582

In the single-core test the Cortex-A72 is in a league of its own - the score of the S650-powered Redmi Note 3 is more than twice as high as what a modest 1.3GHz A53 can do inside the Liquid X2. The Meizu m3 note has the A53 clocked at up to 1.8GHz, and beats the X2 comfortably, but the Vibe K4 Note is again a notch behind the Acer offering.

GeekBench 3 (single-core)

Higher is better

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)1573

Meizu m3 note807

Huawei Honor 5X705

Acer Liquid X2641

Lenovo Vibe K4 Note628

Moving on to compound benchmarks, the Liquid X2 ranks in the middle of the table. In Basemark 2.0 it inches ahead of the Moto X Play, and outperforms both the Vibe K4 Note and the Samsung Galaxy J7 (last year's). The Zenfone Selfie is on top of the X2 in this one, but both Redmi Note 3's are way out of reach.

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

OnePlus 21622

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)1537

Asus Zenfone 2 ZE551ML (Z3580)1222

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)1018

Oppo F1961

Asus Zenfone Selfie ZD551KL883

Huawei Honor 5X874

Acer Liquid X2825

Motorola Moto X Play809

Lenovo Vibe K4 Note729

Samsung Galaxy J7709

The current Antutu 6, doesn't do the Liquid X2 any favors either. The Vibe K4 Note is slightly ahead, and you know where to find the Redmi Note 3's. Then again, the Snapdragon 616 in the Oppo F1 puts it behind Acer's phablet.

AnTuTu 6

Higher is better

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)75051

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)45474

Meizu m3 note44898

Lenovo Vibe K4 Note38359

Acer Liquid X236986

Huawei Honor 5X35469

Oppo F135353

The graphics department isn't where you should expect the X2 to deliver record breaking numbers. Indeed, it doesn't, but does a decent job with what it's got. For example, in Basemark X it defeats the identically equipped Vibe K4 Note, and the Exynos 7580-powered Galaxy J7. The Snapdragon 615 and its Adreno 405 redeem themselves putting the Moto X Play and the Zenfone Selfie above the Liquid X2.

Basemark X

Higher is better

OnePlus 221937

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)14732

Asus Zenfone 2 ZE551ML (Z3580)12426

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)8540

Oppo F15314

Motorola Moto X Play5032

Huawei Honor 5X5009

Asus Zenfone Selfie ZD551KL4915

Meizu m3 note4567

Acer Liquid X24300

Lenovo Vibe K4 Note4072

Samsung Galaxy J73922

In the Manhattan bit of the GFXBench graphics benchmark the Acer Liquid X2 only manages 4.2fps in the offscreen 1080p part of the test. However, while it may be lacking in sheer graphics oomph, in practice the GPU needs to render less than half the pixels, hence the 9.1fps score in the onscreen test.